EL DORADO -- El Dorado needed one point to tie Cabot and two points to take the lead with 1:19 to play Friday night at Memorial Stadium.
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The Wildcats got neither, and Cabot escaped with a 28-13 victory after returning an ensuing onside kick for a touchdown and then adding another score on an interception return.
Cabot (2-0) rode the fleet feet of quarterback Jarrod Barnes, who ran for 181 yards on 18 carries. The Panthers, who only attempted five passes, piled up 283 yards on the ground. Barnes completed 3 of 5 through the air for 28 yards.
But El Dorado had a chance to win the game after Jacobe Singleton caught a pass from Darius Holly and scored from 21 yards out with 79 seconds to play.
Rather than kick an extra point to tie the game and, possibly, force overtime, the Wildcats went for two. Holly, in the Shotgun, faked a jet sweep handoff and rolled to his right. His pass into the end zone was short, however, and fell incomplete, leaving El Dorado with a 14-13 deficit.
Reed said he went for two because he thought the overtime rules set up better for Cabot.
"They're a 10-yard offense," Reed said. "When they get in their Dead-T stuff, that's their game. I thought we had a play we were going to score on. People tell you, you go for it on the road and ... I don't believe that. I believe if the situation is good, you take it. I thought our advantage was to do it then rather than turn it into a 10-yard game.
"We didn't have much run game at all tonight. Ours was to spread it out and throw it. It's a lot harder in a compressed area. I thought it was the best decision. I'm going to live with it. You can second guess it, but I'd do it again. And, honestly, we had it. We just didn't finish it."
El Dorado tried the onside kick and Brennan Claypoole got a nice, high bounce. But, Cabot's John Wiens went up high to grab it and then zipped through the Wildcats' line and raced untouched into the end zone with 1:09 on the clock.
Down 21-13, El Dorado was still in the game until Barnes, inserted into the secondary, intercepted Holly's pass and zigged and zagged his way into the end zone with 36 seconds remaining.
"I wish our kid who got the onsides kick had just dropped and we could've ended the game right there because, now, we go up eight and we still have to sweat it out because they can come back and tie the game. But, you know kids, they have a chance to score, they're going to go score," Cabot Coach Mike Malham said. "It was a good ball game. ... It came down to that 2-point conversion."
Sports on 09/10/2016